Henry lashes out at political dysfunction

Former Treasury boss Ken Henry has lashed out at the dysfunction of Australian politics, saying it stands in marked contrast to earlier periods of policy success.

The now-chair of National Australia Bank told a conference in Canberra almost every major infrastructure project in the past decade has been subject to political wrangling and every government proposal to reform the tax system has failed.

"Our politicians have dug themselves into deep trenches from which they fire insults designed merely to cause political embarrassment," he told the Committee for Economic Development of Australia conference.

He said businesses would not invest or create jobs unless they had confidence in Australia's economic future and its place in the world.

"It's up to business to make the case for change and lead," he said.

He said while the company tax rate should be much lower, it must be achieved more quickly than the 10-year plan put forward by the Turnbull government.

Stamp duties should also be removed for all residential properties, state royalties overhauled and the GST broadened and its rate increased were among what he described a minimum set of long-overdue reforms.